Lonely Nights
by Emery3842
Summary: Max discovers that she doesn't like living alone, but she isn't too fond of the other option either. Will she form a friendship with Alec? Or will she be too stubborn to admit that she wants one? M/A
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey folks! I've been living in London with my first roommate since my freshman year at university. I originally thought I was going to hate returning to sharing a room, but I had forgotten how nice it is sometimes. And since I have had DA on my mind, I figured I would combine the two.

I have only planned this as a two-shot and I hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

She always thought that she would love living alone: having the whole place to herself, free to come and go as she pleased, no dishes randomly left out, no hairs that weren't hers clogging the drain, not needing to rush a bath…that would be the life.

…or at least she thought it would be before she moved into T.C. and they gave her her own place as a "privilege" of being in charge. Or maybe because no one else wanted to deal with her.

The realities of having her own apartment were that the long nights that she spent awake due to her shark DNA were as boring and lonely as ever and she missed having someone to just talk to whenever she wanted. Her place also seemed to have a permanent chill in it; no matter what she did, it was never really warm and certainly not inviting.

But, not wanting to seem ungrateful for the privacy when the housing situation in T.C. was damn difficult at best, she never brought it up to anyone.

And to be honest, what were her other options? She might be in charge, but that didn't mean that the majority of the Manticore alum were friendly with her. Gem was pretty nice, but she had her daughter to consider. Mole…well, that was never going to happen; he would probably kill her in her sleep. Joshua was sweet and would probably love to have her live with him, but he would probably cause the exact opposite problem than she was experiencing by being too…there.

The only other option was Alec, and that wasn't really an option because…it's was Alec.

It took another month of returning to her desolate flat and a raid gone wrong to force her hand.

* * *

It was supposed to be a simple food raid. A small group of X5s with a support team of X6s were going to steal a food delivery truck, take it to an old warehouse that Logan had acquired, and then unload it into carts that were waiting in the old sewer lines, delivering them underneath the gates of T.C. undetected.

The intel had been provided by Logan acting as a liaison for Eyes-Only, keeping his identity from the rest of T.C. a secret. Mole had seemed skeptical about the intel, still distrusting the Ordinary. Mole insisted that they could figure out a solution to their never-ending food shortage on their own, no need to involve civilians.

But, the bottom line was that they needed food and no other plans were being put on the table. Mole had remained steadfast in his criticisms until Alec had stepped in.

"Mole, enough!" Alec's tone was far from its usual jovial nature.

"It's enough when I say it is," Mole grumbled back. He tossed a glare at Logan who, he silently and begrudgingly admitted, managed to meet his eyes, "We don't where this intel came from, for all we know this could be a trap."

"If Logan says it's good, then it's good," Max argued. She was the one who had gone to him and asked him to look into a way to get a good haul of food. She knew that he would have done his research before he handed over the job; it was just the way he worked.

"It may be good enough for you, but we aren't sticking our necks out on the line because you're blinded by your puppy love," Mole snarked through an unlit cigar.

The entire command fell silent and motionless, not because Max's hands had clenched into fists and she had taken a step closer to the transhuman, not because Logan was ready to pacify Max in order to keep her from slamming her newly formed fist into Mole's face, but because Alec had stood up from relaxing against the edge of Dix's desk.

"Mole, enough," Alec repeated his earlier words, but this time there was so much more weight behind them. If asked, no one would be able to tell you why the same words had such a different meaning; it could have been the lower pitch, Alec's body language, or the slight growl that accompanied the order. All people could agree on was that the hairs on the backs of their necks rose in response to the very clear threat that was being issued.

"This doesn't involve you, Princess," Mole spat out.

"If Max says we do the raid, then we do it. If you have a problem with that, get the hell out of Command," Alec calmly informed him, his entire body tight with the possibility of a fight with the transhuman… not that he didn't think he would win, but it would probably hurt to do so.

The occupants in Command held their breath as Mole seemingly weighed Alec up. Either he was going to try to tear the X5 into pieces or…

"It's on your heads," he proclaimed as he stomped towards the doors.

Alec waited until the door had swung shut behind the angry transhuman and everyone had released their breath and gone back to work once they decided that the entertainment was over, before he turned towards Max.

Gone was the stone-cold man who beat Mole into submission with just his words and in his place was a slightly weary version of the Alec she was coming to know. "I hope you're right about this, Maxie."

"Of course I'm right," Max bit back.

* * *

Max was not right. She was not right in the slightest.

Somehow, Logan had missed the signs, missed that the whole thing had been a setup.

But, while everyone In Command had looked in disdain at the Ordinary, they saved their heated glares for their leader. Logan's information may have been wrong, he may not have seen the trap, but Max was the one who accepted the intel at face value, didn't bother to do any recon of her own.

As the team stumbled back, carrying the wounded and noticeably two members short, the med unit had descended on them, sorting out the serious from the scratches.

Max itched to go over and analyze them herself, but the guilt she refused to admit, that sat in the bottom of her stomach and made her want to throw up, kept her from descending the stairs. She knew it made her look more like a bitch, but she just couldn't do it.

That didn't stop her from observing though: looking down at everyone helping the wounded get to sick bay, watching the whispers that were spreading around, about how she failed, how she was too willing to listen to Logan.

"It's not your fault," the object of the latest whispers spoke up, his tone authoritative. "I was the one who found the job."

Max didn't bother to correct him; it was her fault because it was her decision to send a team out. Instead, she just continued to stare off of the platform.

Logan was speaking again, but Max had tuned him out in favor of watching Mole grab Alec's arm and shove him away from Dalton. It didn't matter what was being said, Max could read it on Mole's face…Alec had stood by Max, he'd backed the wrong horse and now he was paying for it.

Alec bristled when Mole shoved him, he wanted to check the kid out and make sure he was okay. He thought about ordering Mole to stand down; he was sort of Max's undeclared second and he was a CO back when Manticore was up and running, people usually fell in line when he started being soldier boy. But, he wasn't unaware of the politics that went with being in power, he had botched it, blindly stuck behind Max, didn't question, didn't confirm facts, and at the moment, he was no longer the golden boy in T.C.

The glares of the transgenics and transhumans surrounding him, the disappointed look in Dalton's eyes, caused him to raise his hands in a passive gesture. "I'm going."

With one final glance back at the group, Alec made a beeline out of Command, the large metal door slamming shut behind him.

"I mean, Alec backed your decision as well," Max heard as she tuned back into Logan. Logan just didn't get it! It was her fault, the whole damn thing. The two dead, the injured, the discourse now running through T.C., everyone turning on Alec, it was all her fault.

Logan was about to continue his quest to convince Max of her innocence when she looked away wearily, "I think you should go."

"I…what?" Logan asked in confusion at the sudden change in topic.

"I've got to take care of this, everyone's tense, you should go," Max said, her tone final.

"Okay," Logan said slowly, "I'll be around."

* * *

'_That probably could've gone a bit better,' _Max thought as she wandered through the streets of T.C. She had gone down to see what she could do to help and had been promptly shoved aside and ignored until she had pretended that she was making the decision to leave on her own.

The thought of returning to her apartment filled her with a sort of dread. The cold silence would not bring about any good thoughts tonight.

The biting winter chill had begun to seep into her bones when she found herself outside of Alec's building. She didn't hesitate as she entered the building and made her way up the four flights of stairs to the nondescript door that she knew was Alec's.

Her knock was soft, far from the demanding pounding that usually accompanied her visits to Alec's. And rather than the door flinging open with Alec's usual quippy comments, the door slowly swung open as Alec turned the handle and trudged back to his spot on the couch, letting himself fall back onto it to return to his staring at the peeling paint opposite him.

Max pushed the door until it clicked into place before following in Alec's footsteps and settling back onto the couch next to him, her hands folded in her lap.

The inch that separated them might as well have been the Grand Canyon. Neither of them really knew how to extend that hand of comfort, the little words that were supposed to make you feel better. Max had sealed herself off after she lost her family and there wasn't exactly a hand holding class back in Manticore. Instead, they took the little bit that they could get from just being near each other.

"Dalton?" Alec asked softly after a solid hour of silence.

Max had to clear her throat twice before she could respond, "Broken arm, cut on the head, nothing serious."

Alec nodded and then went back to being quiet.

One thing that can be said for transgenics, they could sit still for a very long time. Sunrise found Max easing her body off of Alec's couch and hesitating a moment before turning and leaving his place without a word.

* * *

The next two weeks were damage control for Max and Alec. They had a lot of bridges to mend and power to secure. Thankfully, despite his backing her, people still generally liked Alec and he was able to smooth things over. He even managed to get Dalton back to his pre-raid, Alec-worshipping level with a trip to visit him at Gem's.

Thankfully, he pulled her along on his forgiveness tour and managed to convince everyone give her another chance. It probably helped that many thought that Alec should be running T.C. and since he had thrown in his hat with Max, they should follow suit.

Neither of them had spoken about the night that Max had spent over at Alec's. It wasn't like there was anything to talk about, but they had come to a silent agreement to keep everything to themselves.

After two weeks, everything was back to normal, including the cage that her apartment had become. The creak of the floor as she paced all night, the tap of the water dripping from the leaky faucet, the sounds of conversations happening in the apartments surrounding her…it was all a plot to drive her insane.

Deciding that dealing with his smugness was worth it, Max didn't even bother to throw on her leather jacket before she stomped over Alec's.

Her knocking was decidedly less hesitant this time around, resulting in Alec hollering through the apartment, "Jesus, Max! I'm coming!"

"How'd you know it was me?" She asked as he yanked the door open.

"Just a guess," Alec replied with a tight smile, then turned his body as she pushed passed him. He sarcastically drawled, "Come on in, Max. I wasn't doing anything."

"Didn't figure," she quipped as she took in the unchanged state of his place. The typical alcohol bottles littering the counters, a couple bags of junk food spilling out of the trash….three boxes of Chinese food sitting on the counter.

"Where'd you get those?" Max asked him as she made a beeline towards the boxes. Non-mess hall grub was hard to come by. Hardly anyone in T.C. knew how to cook, and the argument could be made that the cooks in the mess didn't know how either, so it was rare that she got to eat something that she didn't have to choke down.

She also tried not to think about what she was missing out on by being stuck in T.C., but besides her friends, her bike, and the Space Needle, Chinese food ranked high on the list.

"They're just boxes," Alec explained almost desperately as he tried to cut off her advance. "They're really old."

Max pulled up short before she ran into Alec's body and made a face at him, "You're such a bad liar. I can smell it, you idiot."

Alec opened his mouth like he was going to try to convince her she was wrong, but at her steely gaze, he let his shoulders drop in defeat. "I have an extra set of chopsticks."

Half an hour later, an old horror movie playing in the background, Alec glared as Max used her chopsticks to hit his knuckles as he reached out to snag a piece of sweet and sour pork out of the container in her hands.

"You barge in here, you steal my food, and then you hit me. Wow, Max…I'm feeling the love," Alec remarked.

"That reminds me," Max said, gesturing to Alec with her chopsticks, "How did you manage to get this in here?"

Alec immediately focused his attention on the tv.

"Alec," Max prodded the leg Alec had propped up on his coffee table with her sock clad foot.

The resulting answer was mumbled so low and quick that even her transgenic hearing couldn't catch all of it.

"What was that?" She asked again, pinning him with a stare.

"I said, I got Asha to slip some inside the gate," Alec said almost as quickly, but this time Max was prepared for it.

"Asha!?" Max looked down at the take-out box with thinly veiled dislike.

"Is that a problem?" Alec drawled out in amusement, knowing that Max had issues with the tall blonde.

"No," Max was quick to assure, even though knowing how it got into T.C. tainted its flavor a bit…and just what was going on between Asha and Alec that she would deliver him food? "I'm just getting full."

"In that case," Alec quickly snatched the box out of Max's loose hand and began shoveling it into his mouth. "What?" He asked around a mouthful of food as she shot him a disgusted look. "You said you were full. Besides, we wouldn't want you packing on the…"

"Finish that sentence and I'll shove those chopsticks down your throat," Max threatened.

* * *

"The recent arrivals have been temporarily housed in the old YMCA. And there have been complaints that some of the younger series have been vandalizing some of the buildings near the perimeter."

Max looked up as Mole finished his report. "Mole, organize a crew to start work on building C. Try and get it ready ASAP. Alec, figure out what to do with the younger series."

"Lock them up until they are older?" Alec suggested, only half joking. What the hell was he supposed to do with a bunch of kids? Back at Manticore it was easy, they were let out of their cages….he meant rooms…and then they would run drills, go to class, run more drills, eat, rinse and repeat.

Max shot him a droll look, but everyone was surprised when she failed to rise to the bait he had obviously laid out there. "Put them on clean up, teach them something. I don't care, just keep them busy."

Alec sent her a mock salute in acknowledgment of her assignment.

"Anything else?" Max asked the table, ignoring the expressions of its occupants ranging from bemused to shocked that she hadn't yelled at Alec yet. No meeting had gone by that she hadn't snapped at him for something.

"No? Good. We'll meet again in three days for an update."

Alec threw his feet up onto her desk as everyone else filed out of her office. Well, what passed as an office.

Max ignored him as she straightened the stacks of paper that took up the majority of her desk. Pieces of paper that outlined the housing shortage, the food shortage, the medical supply shortage…the only thing they weren't short on were people.

She could ignore the feet on her desk, she could ignore the tapping of fingers on the arms of the chair, but when Alec started whistling, she had to look up. "Did you need something?"

"No," Alec informed her, meeting her eyes with a smirk.

"Then leave," Max ordered.

"What? You get to invade my space but I can't return the favor?" Alec questioned, a teasing glint in his eye.

"I don't invade your space," Max insisted, even as a shred of doubt entered her.

Over the past month, she had found herself at Alec's more and more often. When it came time to leave command, she was faced with a decision, return to her apartment or follow Alec to his. Perhaps he really was bothered by her presence and this was finally when he admitted it.

"Don't lie, Maxie. Your feet were so on my side of the couch last night," Alec revealed.

Max couldn't explain why there was a knot in her stomach and why it loosened when Alec made his thoughts clear, but she was glad for it.

"Whatever," Max griped, shoving his boot clad feet off of her desk and repeated, "Did you need something?"

Alec shook his head as he stood up, "Just checking to see if you were bringing the movie for tonight."

"I said I was going to, didn't I?" Max snapped, still uncomfortable talking about…whatever it was they were doing.

"Good, see ya later, Maxie," he let his tongue linger on her nickname before he turned with a quick smile and left her office humming.

* * *

Max didn't bother knocking when she got to Alec's, just let herself in with a shout, "You'd better have popcorn this time!"

Alec exited his kitchen with a triumphant grin and mimicked her earlier words, "I said I was going to, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but you say a lot of things, doesn't mean they're true," Max retorted, determined to pretend that she didn't see the smallest bit of hurt flash across his face before it resumed its normal, unaffected expression.

"Ouch, Maxie, you know right where to hit me," Alec mocked, his hand over his heart.

"Whatever," Max snapped, heading towards the living room, "Are we doing this or not?"

"A woman who takes control," Alec nearly cooed, "I may be in love."

"Will you shut up?" She asked as she playfully threw a couch pillow at him.

Alec brought up his knee to knock the pillow aside and plopped down next to her on the couch. "Always so violent…hey! Ow! You could ask nicely!"

Max tossed some of the popcorn into her mouth and didn't bother to shove Alec away when he let his shoulder rest against hers.

* * *

"Come on, how hard can it be?" Alec mumbled as he stared at the directions. "If an Ordinary can figure this out…" he trailed off as he tugged on the ends of his hair in frustration.

"Alec?" Max called out as she let herself in. She didn't need directions to him though, she only had to follow the smell of something burning and Alec cursing.

"Damn it!" He shouted as he burnt his fingers for the fifth time.

"You know," Alec whipped around from taking burnt bread out of the oven as Max's amused tone reached him. "They make these things called oven mitts."

Alec sent her a scathing glare, but Max couldn't help but laugh. "You uh…you've got…"

Finally she gave up, walked over and used her thumb to wipe away sauce that had somehow ended up on his cheek. She didn't think about the action until she was touching him and he froze.

Max could hear him swallow hard before he knocked her hand away from his face.

"Yeah yeah, make fun of the transgenic who can't even cook a simple pasta dish," Alec tried for lighthearted, but his statement came out a bit bitter instead.

Max stepped up to the stove as Alec busied himself with trashing the pasta.

"How'd you manage to burn pasta?" Max asked, trying her hardest not to laugh in his face again.

"I cooked it too long," Alec snapped. He had wanted to do something nice for Max. The past week had been hell, meetings with politicians, the broken water pipes in building C, Logan guilt tripping her for not being available for an Eyes-only mission.

For some reason, he got it into his head that cooking dinner was the way to go; probably because she was always complaining about the food in the mess. However, when he was getting the supplies, he forgot the most vital thing…he had absolutely no idea how to cook. There was a reason he was always eating prepared food or in the mess, Joshua knew how to cook better than he did.

Alec was about to dump the sauce out when Max stopped him. "Hold on, that might be okay."

Looking down at the red sauce, Alec shrugged and held it out to Max who grabbed a spoon off the counter and dunked it in. Ignoring Alec's stare as she tasted it, Max nodded her approval.

"Not bad," she begrudgingly complimented. Then teased, "How is it you can make spaghetti sauce, but you can't boil pasta?"

If she didn't know any better, she would say that Alec was starting to blush as he turned away from her to put the pot back on the stove. "There were directions."

"Directions?" She questioned, moving up next to him to put more water into the empty pot.

Alec gave the sauce a quick stir before leaning back against the counter, his hand going up to rub his bar-code in a gesture she recognized as Alec being sheepish or uncomfortable. "Gem may have written down the directions for the sauce, but then for the pasta, she just said to boil it," he admitted.

The corner of Max's lips quirked upwards. It made sense that he was able to make the sauce, for all his screw-ups, Alec really was good at following directions; it was what he was trained for after all. "And it never occurred to you to take the pasta off when you smelt it burning?"

"Okay, I get it, I screwed it up," Alec shook his head in slight annoyance, shifting over so Max could put the pot back on the stove.

"Eh, it's called learning," Max reasoned.

Alec looked at her almost in shock, "Wait, you're giving up the opportunity to inform me of my short comings?" He reach out his hand and put it on her forehead, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Shut up," Max slapped his hand away.

* * *

It wasn't until after Max had properly cooked the pasta and they both had plates full of food in front of them that she asked, "What's with the whole wine and dine anyways?"

"Oh, that reminds me," Alec stood up and walked over to the fridge, avoiding her question. How was he supposed to explain his reasons to her? '_Yeah, it's no big deal, just noticed you were having a bad week and wanted to cheer you up'_? That would go over real well, he was sure. Sure, over the past couple of months they had grown to enjoy the friendship they had formed, liked that they could be comfortable just sitting in silence, that they still had the playful banter, that they could both pretend that they hadn't noticed the glances that lasted a bit too long or the secret smiles that were shot at each other.

But, that didn't mean they had admitted they enjoyed those things, or even that they happened. So, he was certainly not going to explain himself to Max.

"Reminds you of what? Don't tell me you have wine," Max asked him. Secretly, she hoped that he didn't. Despite what she told Logan, wine wasn't really her thing. He had tried to teach her about the different types, but it was all just wine to her.

Alec's expression as he returned made her feel silly for even asking.

"Who do you think I am?" Alec asked as if she was missing a few marbles. He set a beer down in front of her, "There's a no wine policy in my apartment."

Max clinked the neck of her bottle against Alec's in a mock toast and couldn't help but add, "Does that whine policy include you after an all-nighter?"

Alec sent her a droll look before he flung a piece of pasta at her.

"Hey, that's for eating! Unless you're gonna make more…oh, that's right, you don't know how."

Max grinned as she took a bite and groaned her appreciation. It was way better than the food down in the mess! Distracted by lifting a second bite to her lips, Max didn't see the triumphant smirk on Alec's face as he hooked his foot around the leg of her chair and gave a tug, causing her to fall over backwards.

As she looked up at the dirty ceiling, she realized that one thing was certain, pasta at Alec's was an entirely different experience than at Logan's.

* * *

"Where ya going?" Alec mumbled as he felt Max's weight shift on the couch.

Max froze, she was sure she would be able to get off of the couch without waking Alec, but she should have known that he would be aware of things around him, even while he slept.

"Home," Max whispered, trying to keep him from waking all the way up. She had given up any pretense that she wasn't going to end up at Alec's after she left command for the night and just started walking with him when their schedules matched up. However, they had never crossed the line of her sleeping over. No matter what the time, Max would pull herself off of the couch or the floor and return to her own apartment. Although, as their nights stretched later, it got more difficult for her to convince herself to leave.

They had been watching Terminator, one of Alec's favorite movies, when Alec had crashed. To be fair, it was almost two in the morning. Alec didn't have shark DNA, but he was usually able to stay up fairly late to keep her company. However, he had been working on putting the energy of the younger series to better use than vandalism and despite what he said, they were draining him.

She stayed for a while and alternated between staring at the television and at her now-declared SIC. It hadn't come to a surprise to anyone when she had appointed him; well it had been a surprise to him.

The movie was boring, they had watched this movie at least half a dozen times, but Alec…he was interesting. When he was awake, Alec always had a smile on his face, whether it was teasing, sarcastic, cruel, his was always expressing something. His eyes could even change his words from mean to flirty. But most of the time, if you looked closely enough, if you knew him well enough, you could see the chinks in his armor. Underneath all of it, any emotion he threw out there, he was lost. He struggled every day to fit into the world outside of Manticore. It had gotten better once they were in T.C., but there was a reason he didn't want to be in command, he worked better with orders, they gave him structure. Without them he had a tendency to fall apart.

Asleep though, he looked relaxed in a way he rarely did while awake. She couldn't help but appreciate the way his long eyelashes rested on his cheekbones, the way his now slightly shaggy hair would brush across his forehead, the way his shirt rode up just a bit when he shifted to reveal a slight glimpse of his...

Max's eyes would shoot forward every time she caught herself looking somewhere that would have earned her a cheeky comment and a smirk if he had been awake.

"Stay," Alec's sleepy mumble reached her ears and snapped her out of her thoughts.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she assured him, straightening her legs out and moving to stand up.

Her feet made it to the ground before Alec's hand shot out, his eyes still closed, and wrapped around her wrist. "Stay," he repeated, this time sounding a little more awake.

"Alec," Max started, knowing that if he pushed it, then she would probably would.

Alec gave a gentle tug, then when she resisted, he gave one sharp yank and pulled her back onto the couch next to him. "Go to sleep," he ordered, relaxing once again.

"Lemme go," Max tried to twist her way out of Alec's grip, but he simply tightened his hand slightly and cracked open an eye.

"It's gonna be morning soon, just go to sleep," Alec told her. He couldn't explain why he wanted her to stay, it wasn't like he was looking to get some, he just wanted her to be there.

Max huffed in frustration and nudged him with her free hand, "Well, scoot!" she demanded.

Alec shifted his legs so that there was more room on the couch and closed his eyes again.

"Uh…Alec?" Max waved her hand around to that he was aware of what she wanted. Her wrist was released a second later and she settled back against the couch, her legs curled up next to Alec's her head at the opposite end of the couch.

Once she was finally settled, which included some kicking and shoving on both their parts, Max took a deep breath and wondered what sort of line this was crossing. As she fell asleep, she heard a soft, "Night, Maxie," and realized that she was pretty comfortable crossing it.

* * *

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	2. Chapter 2

"So, you and Alec…"

Max scanned over a report before glancing up at Logan who was standing awkwardly by her desk. "What about us?"

Logan shuffled, "I heard that you two have been spending a lot of time together lately."

Max paused for a moment. She had told Logan the truth about her and Alec almost immediately after the flag raising ceremony. She had decided after he reached for her hand that it wasn't fair to any of them for her to continue the charade. Alec wouldn't be able to have anything with another girl, and Logan would continue to feel bad about his flirtations.

Even as she revealed the truth, she had maintained her position on being with him. The situation hadn't changed, she still stand the thought of accidently touching him or preventing him from finding someone he could actually kiss. But, Logan had been more concerned with getting her reassurances and promises that there was nothing going on between her and Alec.

Logan wasn't blind; he could see passed the childish taunts and schoolyard hair pulling…Max and Alec just fit. The only thing that insured that he still had a chance with Max was that they just didn't see it. Max viewed Alec as a sometime friend, full time screw-up that she had to get out of his most recent mess. Alec saw Max as someone who claimed to have all the answers, all the knowledge, but couldn't honestly understand.

When Max had told him that they were dating, Logan had been bitter, but really, he had been expecting it. He thought they had finally opened up their eyes and saw what was right in front of them.

And then Max had revealed the great lie. He had been exuberant! It was still possible for him to be with Max, he just had to make her see him as an option again. He had been hopeful up until a few days ago when Mole had 'let it slip' that Max had been going home with Alec almost every night. His stomach had dropped, but he knew he had to ask Max in-person before he called it quits.

"So, have you?" Logan asked again.

Max knew it was a loaded question, so she didn't look at Logan as she answered with a shrug, "Yeah, we've been hanging out."

"How's that been going?" Logan pursued.

"Good," Max threw out, setting down Mole's report on the new building and standing up. "I've gotta go check out the new building, I'll catch ya later?"

"Max," Logan called out before she could dash out the door.

Max stopped with her hand on the door knob.

"Do you like him?" Logan asked her softly.

Max thought about being purposefully dense and replying that of course she liked him, he was her friend. But, she knew what Logan was asking and knew he wouldn't be satisfied with a half-answer. So, she stalled, "I uh…can we talk about this later?"

Logan shook his head, "It's a yes or no answer, Max. Do you like Alec?"

Taking a deep breath, Max forced herself to meet Logan's eyes, "I…sometimes? Maybe? I dunno…but Logan, that doesn't mean that I don't care for you. I just…" she trailed off.

Logan held up his hand, "You don't need to explain, Max. But, you will need to make a decision."

* * *

"So, who will it be?"

Max whipped her head around to stare at Alec. "What!?"

Alec furrowed his eyebrows at her, her response unexpected. "Stallone or Van Damme?"

"Oh, yeah, right…um…both?" Max answered him.

"Both? What kind of answer is that? You might as well say, 'I'm just indecisive and selfish. I want the best of both without the downsides of just picking one'."

"God, Alec," Max snapped because he was unknowingly hitting on the criticism that she had been laying on herself all day, "it's not the end of the world either way."

"I don't know, Maxie," Alec teased because she was being uppity about something and that was just how they worked, "I think that it is an incredibly important decision that could definitely change our friendship. After all, if you pick the wrong one, it'll just be awkward."

Max jumped off of her perch on Alec's counter and made for the door.

"Max?" Alec questioned in confusion as he rushed over and stopped the door from opening.

"Move," Max growled.

Alec shook his head, "Who shoved the stick up your ass?"

"Alec, move!" Max shouted at him. "Or I'll make you."

"Seriously, Max?" Alec looked at her in disbelief. They still teased and bickered, but it had been a long time since she had been a flat out bitch to him. "What the hell did I do this time?"

Max gave him a hard shove away from the door and stormed out of the room.

* * *

"I didn't think that you'd show up tonight."

Max shrugged Alec's comment away and pulled two beers out of her bag, offering one up as an apology. Alec didn't hesitate to reach out and take it.

"You wanna talk about yesterday?"

Once Max shook her head no, Alec turned back to the meat he was chopping up. They had started making meals at least once a week…well, at least they tried to. Tonight was beef stew, nothing too difficult, just required a lot of chopping.

"Are you gonna stand there all night or are you going to give me a hand?" Alec asked, gesturing towards the potatoes that needed cut up.

The rest of dinner preparation went smoothly and silently, both transgenics moving around each other like they had been doing it their whole lives.

They waited until they were sitting down on the couch with a bowl of hot soup, then they both started to speak at the same time.

"I think that…"

"I'm sorry about…"

"Sorry, go ahead."

"No, it's not important, you go."

"Alec, what were you going to say?"

"Nothing, you?"

"Nothing."

"Good."

"Good."

Alec shoveled his soup into his mouth in order to keep himself from starting yet another stupid conversation.

Max on the other hand swirled her spoon in her bowl absentmindedly.

A short while later they had progressed on to watching a movie, one that was noticeably not starring Stallone or Van Damme. Alec had gone around the room and clicked off the lights, casting the room into darkness minus the glow from the television. They had reached the halfway mark when he finally found his voice.

"Move in with me," he said simply.

"What!?" Max stared at him incredulously.

"Move in with me," he repeated, feeling like he was always repeating himself around Max.

"Why the hell would you ask me that?" Max shrieked at him.

Alec tensed up, waiting for the barrage of hits that was undoubtedly coming at him. "Why not?"

"Because," she sputtered, searching her mind for an acceptable reason, "Because…You….you're…just….Alec!"

"So, nothing in particular then, just everything about me?" Alec bitterly threw his theory out.

Max gnawed on the inside of her cheek. Perhaps her explanation had come out sounding more anti-Alec than confused. "That's not what..."

"Go," Alec snapped, his face and his tone closed off once more.

"What?" Max was confused. Alec had just sprung that question on her and now he was mad that she didn't know how to respond?

"Don't you ever listen to me?!" Alec shouted at her. "Damn it, Max!"

If asked later, Max would deny having jumped when Alec's empty bowl flew across the room and small pieces of glass rained down on the floor.

"Why are you yelling at me!?" Max hollered back.

"Because you piss me off sometimes!" Alec revealed, pacing across his living room like a caged tiger. The television screen was flashing with some muted action scene, the light bouncing off of Alec's tightened features.

Max leaped off the couch, "I piss _you_ off?! How do I piss you off?"

Alec pulled up abruptly so that he was directly in front of Max, "When you leave Command, where do you go? Who do you see? What the fuck have we been doing these past months?!"

"I…"

"Cause it sure as hell isn't Logan who's been putting up with you!"

"Putting up with me?!" Max asked for confirmation, her tone indignant.

"Have you ever heard yourself after you've had a bad day? I'd say 'putting up with' is being nice," Alec snarked viciously.

"Careful, Alec," Max warned.

"Or what? You'll hit me?" Alec questioned, throwing his hands up. "Nothing new there. I think maybe you should have named me punching bag."

"If I'm sure a horrible person to be around, then why'd you just ask me to move in?" Max wanted to hurl something at him. When she had given him her explanation earlier, she didn't mean it as harshly as it sounded. But now that he was yelling, every instinct in her body was telling her to fight back.

"Because I'm insane?" Alec half-answered, half-asked himself out loud. "Because no one in their right mind should want to spend even more time with you!"

"Wow, way to make a girl feel special," Max informed him coldly, her arms moving to fold over her chest.

"Shut up, I'm not done," Alec ordered, ignoring Max's increased glare. "Because despite the fact that you are incredibly bossy, that you can never sit still for an entire movie, that you are always hitting me, and always stealing all the popcorn, I like having you around. I like that if I decide to go for a run at one in the morning, you are right there, ready to go. That if I think of something amusing, there is someone to turn and tell it to. Just that there is another living, breathing person around. And you can lie to me and tell me that you are fine with being alone, but if that's the case, then why are you here all the time?"

Max tried to quell her heart that was attempting to beat its way out of her chest. How was she supposed to respond to this? Did she storm out? Did she answer him truthfully? Did she pretend that it was all a joke, laugh, ignore his hurt, and then return to her cold, empty apartment? He could _not_ want to live with her. Like he said, she drove him insane. And she could not be considering his offer, because he drove her up the freakin' wall!

…But, she couldn't deny that his argument had some merit. She was always here…it couldn't be that bad if she kept coming over night after night. And returning to her apartment had gotten progressively harder.

"I…" some of her anger drained out of her. "Alec, it's not a good idea."

"Yeah," Alec agreed, following her into being a bit calmer, "Because I'm _Alec_."

Max's hand started to reach out to him before she tucked it more securely under her other arm. "No, because you're Alec and I'm Max."

Alec's expression prompted her to continue.

"We screw things up. If I moved in, how long do you think it would take before we were at each other's throats?"

"Two hours," Alec answered honestly.

"And what if…what?" Max stopped when she registered his answer.

"We would be fighting, constantly, like we always have. And we would drive each other insane."

"Exactly why we shouldn't live together!"

"Exactly why we should!" Alec said eagerly. "Max, think about the past few months. There is a reason why you keep coming over. For some god unknown reason, us, here, it just works. We just…work." Alec trailed off slightly, his face scrunching up before he shook his head free of whatever thought had popped in.

He pinned her with a stare, "So, what'll it be, Maxie?

* * *

"Alec! Where the hell are you hiding?!"

Everyone in Command turned to look at their leader as she stormed through the doors, determined to find her SIC.

"I'll give you three cigars if you tell her I'm at the gym."

Mole waited until Max was questioning Dix about Alec's whereabouts before he glanced down at the X5 crouched behind a desk out of Max's sight.

"Make it five," he rumbled through a cigar he already had.

Alec did a quick check around the desk to see Max getting closer. "I've only got four, take it or leave it," he bargained.

"Sorry Princess, not worth the amusement I'm gonna get in a moment."

"Mole," Alec hissed.

"Hey, Queen B!" Mole called out, stepping away from the kick Alec had aimed at him. "You may wanna check over here!"

"Damn," Alec breathed out as he could hear her footsteps stomping closer. He scrambled to his feet in time to get poked in the chest by Max. "Hey, Maxie! Didn't hear you come in."

"You drank the rest of my coffee!" Max accused.

"Did not," Alec denied, his expressions dialed in on innocent.

"Oh, so someone else broke in and took it? Do you know how hard it is to get coffee?"

Alec nodded, "Yeah, I do, because if I remember correctly, I was the one who went out and got it last time. So, technically, I drank the rest of _my_ coffee!"

"Ha! You just admitted it!" Max crowed triumphantly.

Gem glanced up at Mole as the two continued to argue about coffee. "Months later and they're still at it," she mentioned in amusement.

"The day they stop fightin' is the day I like havin' the Ordinary around," Mole responded as Max took a swipe at Alec's head with the palm of her hand.

Alec ducked out of the way, only to have Max's other hand hit him on the opposite side.

"Someone get Max some coffee before she kills Alec!" Gem shouted to the rest of Command before more quietly responding to Mole, "At least they are keeping us entertained."

Alec called after Max as she ascended the stairs to her office, "See ya at home, Sweetie!"

"I'm not your sweetie!" She shouted back at him, slamming her office door shut.

Smiling to himself, Alec walked over to Mole and Gem. "What?" He asked when Gem shook her head.

"Do you like sleeping on the couch?"

"No, I don't," Alec revealed. "But that has been the status quo for the past six months and until Max decides to give me my bed back, share with me, or we get another bed, that isn't likely to change."

"Which one are you hoping for?" Gem asked knowingly.

Alec smirked, "I don't need hope, just time."

"Alec!"

The smirk fell from Alec's face as he turned to look up at Max's office, "Maybe time and coffee…"

* * *

**The End! Thoughts?**

**At the moment, I am not planning any more for this, unless there is a lot of support. I may dabble some more in DA though.**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This story was finished, but you all inspired me with your wonderful reviews and I decided to give you a bit more! I can't thank you enough for your lovely reviews, it was great to see that people liked the story. Please continue to let me know what you think!

Also, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it and Happy Holidays if you don't!

* * *

"Alec! Get out!"

Alec ducked to avoid the book turned projectile as he maintained his tight grip on one of his sweaters. "I'm cold, I hate being cold," he whined as he hastily shoved his arms into the garment and tugged it over his head, sacrificing visibility for warmth.

"Don't throw that," he ordered, his head popping out of the top with a stern look at his stubborn, obnoxious, bed-hogging roommate.

Max turned the potential weapon over in her hands and recognized the small figurine that Alec had given her two weeks after she moved in. Contrary to Alec's prediction, it didn't take them two hours to start bickering, it took two minutes. Max had hauled her meager bag of possessions into Alec's apartment and immediately made for the bedroom.

"_Jeez, I knew you wanted me, but I didn't expect you to jump right into my bed," Alec teased, his lips turning up in a suggestive half-smile._

_Max glanced up at him as she tossed her bag onto the bed, "You mean my bed."_

"_Uh," Alec raised an eyebrow at her, "I'm pretty sure it's mine."_

"_I'm not sleeping on the couch," Max told him._

"_You are if you don't wanna be sleeping next to me," Alec countered, his tone firm._

_The light from the television bounced around the living room as Alec kicked his feet around, trying to get the blanket to feel right. "Move in with me, it's a good idea," he muttered mockingly to himself. "Kick me out of my own room, use all the hot water…"_

"_Alec, turn the tv down!" Max called from the room. _

"_Tell me to turn the tv down," he continued his disgruntled mumbling, even as he pounded down on the volume button._

_It took Alec another hour of flopping around before he realized that he had the world's most uncomfortable couch in the history of couches. Oddly, it had felt way better when he and Max had spent the night on it all that time ago. Now, his body was finding every broken spring, every lumpy section…it didn't matter which way he turned, he was plagued with discomfort. _

_Despite what everyone thought, he could survive without many creature comforts; Manticore didn't breed and train needy people. But, since the great escape, he had grown to enjoy sleeping in a real bed, not a bunk in the barracks. He could admit that he slept better with his head nestled on a pillow and his body being sandwiched between warm blankets and a soft mattress._

_The glutton for punishment that he was, he got his hopes up when he heard Max exit his…her…room and make her way out to the living room. Perhaps she was going to let him return to his nice, warm, soft, amazing bed that he would never take for granted again. _

_But, this was Max, not some normal person who would take pity on him and his head jerked backwards as she flung a pillow at his face._

"_Now go to sleep," she commanded as she spun on her heel and returned to his…her bed. _

A full day later, after they began speaking to one another again, Alec tossed a crystal figurine of a flower that he had snagged on a raid at her, he had insisted that it wasn't a gift, it was a reminder that she could be always choose to be delicate.

Max kindly informed him that he could delicately shove the flower up his ass, but when he rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen to grab some food, she had gone and placed it in her room where it wouldn't get broken.

Max huffed, but gently set it back down on the nightstand. "You have your sweater, now out!"

"I dunno, I kinda like it in here. And, I'm definitely feeling warmer," he drawled, leaning his body against the doorframe.

Tugging the towel she had wrapped around herself even tighter, Max pointed to the open door behind Alec, "Seriously, get out. This is the fourth time this month!"

"What," Alec replied innocently, "I can't help it if I just so happen to need something from _my_ room when you're getting ready to shower. Maybe if you would give me my room back, this wouldn't happen anymore."

Alec's innocent tone was ruined by the way his lips slid into a lecherous smirk as he let his eyes trail downwards. "However, I don't mind sleeping on the couch if I keep getting shows like this."

"Alec, don't make me kick your ass," Max ground out, ignoring the fact that her irritation felt a bit forced, like she was only responding this way because she had conditioned herself to do so.

"If you're wearing that," Alec pointed to her towel, "then I'll let you do whatever you want to me."

As a shoe flew towards Alec's head, Max could say with absolute certainty that the annoyance was definitely _not_ forced.

* * *

"Hey, Logan, good to see ya! What are you doing here?"

Max sent Alec a hard look as his greeting came out forcefully cheerful, not that the Ordinary paid him any mind.

"I've come to see Max," Logan explained without looking over to the annoying transgenic. All he wanted was a few minutes alone with Max, and like always, Alec had to ruin his plans. He was starting to wonder if the other transgenics were immediately running to Alec anytime he entered Terminal City.

"I can see that," Alec pointed out, the façade dropping a bit as Logan brushed him off. "I wanted to know why."

"I don't see how that is any of your business, _Alec_," Logan threw out.

Max opened her mouth to tell them to knock it off, but Alec was quicker.

"If it has anything to do with T.C. or transgenics, then it does. Just in case you have forgotten, she named _me _her SIC."

"And if it doesn't?" Logan challenged, finally turning towards the younger man.

Logan noticed the smirk that turned into a hard, cold smile, but he missed the way that Alec's muscles tensed up. That didn't matter though, the smile was enough to make his heart rate increase and for him to glance at Max.

Max returned his look with a raised eyebrow, silently telling him that he was the one that started the pissing match. Despite his abilities and his current mood, Max wasn't worried about Alec doing anything to Logan. Logan wouldn't believe that, he looked at Alec and saw a cold-blooded killer. Max wished she could say that she had never believed the same thing, but that was then. She knew him now or at least parts of him, he may have the skills to kill someone in almost every possible way, but he didn't want to. He never wanted to.

And even though she couldn't explain it, she knew that it would take a lot of pushing on Logan's part before Alec would even seriously consider throwing a punch.

However, Logan didn't know this and he was looking at her beseechingly.

"Alec, go get a report on the perimeter."

Alec's jaw clenched as he recognized the dismissal, but he gave a stiff nod and spun on his heel to leave the office.

"Bye, Alec," Logan couldn't keep the smug tone from his voice. He knew it was petty, but anytime he could make Max aware of Alec's short temper, he considered it a win. Over the past two years, Alec had proven himself to be a valuable ally, but he was broken, broken in a way that Max wasn't.

Max escaped, she had willingly left Manticore behind. Alec was a true blue soldier, he had followed orders, assassinated people, let Max infect him without a further thought; the only reason that Alec left Manticore was because there was no Manticore left.

"You shouldn't do that," Max chastised Logan once Alec let the door slam shut.

"What? Don't poke the animals?" Logan joked, before he caught the way Max's expressions closed off. "I didn't mean it like that…"

"Yeah, whatever," Max waved his comment away, even as it stung. Logan was always quick to reassure her that he didn't think of her as anything other than human, but when it came to the transhumans, he never seemed fully comfortable and he was always quick to pass judgment on Alec. If she hadn't escaped, would he look at her with the same disdain that he viewed Alec with? Would he even be helping them? "What did you want?"

Logan shuffled a bit, "I was just wondering how you were doing…"

"We are finally getting everything set up, Alec's got the X6s working on cleaning up, Gem set up some classes for them, things are falling into place."

"I meant how are _you_ doing," Logan clarified.

"I'm fine," Max said simply.

Logan tried for nonchalance with his next question, but it came out too curious, "How's the living situation going?"

Max refused to look away as she answered his question, "It's fine."

* * *

Max half expected to be bombarded with questions the moment she entered their apartment, instead she was greeted with silence. "Alec?" She asked, even though she could sense that she was alone.

Two beers, a movie, and a bit of pacing later, Max heard the tell-tale signs of Alec's boot clad feet coming up the stairs. Blurring over to the couch, she adopted a relaxed appearance.

"Where've you been?" Max asked, not looking up from the channels she was flipping through.

"Out. How was your talk with Logan?" Alec stripped off his jacket and tossed it onto a chair near the couch.

"It was fine," Max told him in the same tone.

"Good," Alec said, moving past her to get to his bathroom.

"You smell like a sewer," she observed as he walked by. Then it was like a light bulb went off in her head, "did you leave Terminal City?"

Alec paused, "I said I went out."

"I thought you meant you went over to Mole's, or Joshua's place, not outside the perimeter!" Max shouted at him. "What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking that it's none of your business where I go," Alec replied calmly. "Besides, if Logan can come and go, why can't I?"

"Because you're not Logan!" Max continued to shout, her voice growing louder rather than matching his quiet, calm demeanor.

"You've made that perfectly clear," Alec shook his head slightly and continued his path to the shower.

"You can't just go out whenever you want!" Max declared, jumping off of the couch and rushing over to spin him around.

"Actually, I can," Alec corrected, reaching down and removing her hand from his upper arm. He sent her a forced smile, "Contrary to what you might think, I'm capable of making my own decisions."

"This is serious, Alec," Max ground out. "What if you'd been caught?"

Alec scrutinized her for a moment before responding, "Then you wouldn't have to fight me for warm water anymore."

"Damn it, this isn't a joke," Max tried to explain. For reasons she didn't want to think about, her throat tightened. "People out there know your face, if you got caught, what do you think they would do to you? I don't want…if you…"

Max fought the urge to stomp her foot at her inability to just spit it out.

The tension that was coursing through him slid away as he took a deep breath and sent a reassuring smile to Max, "They'd have to catch me first."

That apparently didn't do the trick because Max was shaking her head, "They caught Biggs, they've caught others…"

"Well, they won't catch me," Alec hesitated only a moment before he pulled her against his chest and spoke into her hair. "I'm not going anywhere, Maxie. You're gonna have to work a lot harder to get rid of me. I promise."

Max let out a small huff of laughter as she allowed herself to relax into his embrace for a minute. The deep, leather, earthy smell that she always associated with Alec was all that much stronger as she turned her head into his soft sweater.

"Besides," his chest rumbled with his softly spoken words, "I'm still determined to get my bed back."

Max lifted her head with a dubious expression, "Good luck with that." She then pulled herself away from the warmth he had unexpectedly offered. "Now, go shower, you smell."

As Alec returned to his shower mission, he offhandedly tossed over his shoulder, "You may wanna check yourself before you start throwing out the insults; you _were _just hanging all over me."

Max was about to deny the hanging comment, but picked up her shirt instead and brought it to her nose. "I call first shower!" she shouted, rushing towards the bathroom.

"Oh no you don't, I won't take another cold shower," Alec proclaimed, racing for the door as well, reaching it just a second before Max and slamming it shut in her face.

Max hit the door with her palm, "You'd better not use all the hot water!"

* * *

"No, absolutely not."

"Come on, get in the Christmas spirit!"

"Unless the Christmas spirit can get me out of meeting with the mayor, I don't want anything to do with it." Max held up the two dresses she was deciding between. "I don't know why I even have to dress up; it's not like they're gonna like me anyways."

Alec lazily propped his head up with one hand from his sprawled out position on his old bed and pointed towards the black one he thought she should wear. "Well, you could make a bit of effort."

Max held out Alec's choice for inspection and then hung it back up in the closet and stepped into the bathroom to put on the red strapless one. "I do make an effort…"

"Max, last time you met with the mayor, you accused him of being a racist asshole who was trying to sweep a genocide under the rug," Alec reminded her while he tried to angle his head just right in order to get a peek at Max in the bathroom.

"Is it really that far from the truth?" Max asked as she came out of the bathroom adjusting the hemline of her dress.

Alec's head snapped back into place, "It doesn't really matter if it's true or not, you don't say things like that."

"Maybe he should work on getting the Sector Police to stop allowing thugs to throw incendiaries over the fence," Max shot back, checking her reflection in the full length mirror that only had one piece missing from it.

"I'm not defending him, I'm just saying that if you play nice, it might get you further," Alec explained. "Are you taking anyone with you?"

Max leaned forward to apply some lipstick, catching Alec's eyes in the mirror, "Eyes front, soldier. And Logan knows him, so he is going to go with to try and smooth things over."

Alec groaned as he let his head drop back on the bed, "Maxxxiiiieee," he stretched her nickname out. "When are you gonna learn?"

"I don't need a lecture, Alec," Max stood up straight and turned towards him. "This isn't my idea of a fun night; you don't need to make it worse."

"Fine," Alec conceded, holding his hands up to the ceiling in surrender. "But, don't come complaining to me when Logan gets his hopes up again."

Max picked up her strappy heels and shifted her dress so that she could sit down on the bed next to Alec's legs. "Do you have any plans for tonight?" she asked, avoiding his very valid point.

"Hmm," Alec pretended to ponder as he sat up to watch her slide the straps over her decidedly delicate feet. "Did you know you have small feet?"

Max slapped his arm, "I do not, and answer the question."

"You do," Alec insisted, "when you aren't lugging them around in boots. And plans? Well, I'm planning on heading to Crash, picking a fight with the biggest guys there, and shove it down their throats that we exist…you know, pretty much what you're going to end up doing with the mayor, except I will get to throw a punch…on the other hand, you may end up doing that as well…"

"You're such a smart-aleck," Max nudged him with her shoulder and stood up, relying on her transgenic sense of balance to not wobble on the heels.

Alec smiled, "You named me well."

Alec didn't bother to hide his slow inspection of Max that started at her heel clad feet and ended with her pulled back hair.

"You done?" Max asked when he finally met her eyes again. Even with her training and her personal no-emotions rule, Max was finding it difficult to keep a blush from racing across her cheeks.

"For now."

The hairs on her arms rose as the words practically caressed her. A knock at the door halted her response. "That's Logan," she said unnecessarily.

One of Alec's eyebrows lifted before he threw her a smile and blurred to the door. "Logan, good buddy, ol' pal, come on in!"

Logan looked at Alec suspiciously as the transgenic moved so that he could enter the apartment. "Alec," he said by way of greeting.

"Take a seat," Alec offered.

"Hey Logan, I'll be out in a minute, I just gotta find my phone," Max called out.

"So, Maxie tells me you guys are meeting with the Mayor tonight," Alec plopped down on the chair across from Logan.

"Yeah, sorry that you aren't invited, the food is going to be amazing," Logan, as per usual, couldn't help but goad the man.

Max may choose to ignore Logan's ability to be an ass, but there was no love lost between him and Alec, "Probably for the best. I don't think I could take anymore sensory overload tonight, seeing Maxie getting dressed just about killed me. I would hate to take anything else away from you."

Logan was bristling when Max made her way into the living room. Glancing at both occupants, Max frowned, "Am I interrupting something?"

"Nope," Alec replied cheerfully. "Logan?"

"Not at all," Logan bit out before smiling at Max, "You look wonderful."

"Thanks," Max said shortly, not looking forward to the evening. Logan thought that they were ready to go and started towards the door. He paused when he realized that Max wasn't following him.

"Phone," Max held her hand out and waggled her fingers, "gimme."

"You didn't say the magic word," Alec teased, not moving in response to her demand.

"Gimme the phone and I won't kick your ass when I get home," Max countered, one hand placed firmly on her hip.

"Always with the ass! Please, stop with all the foreplay, I won't be able to last," Alec drawled, his lips quirking up when he heard Logan clear his throat uncomfortably.

"Alec…"

Alec let out a put-upon sigh and pulled the phone from his pocket, "You suck the fun out of everything, you're a fun-sucker."

Max turned her phone over in her hands and then reached out to pop Alec across the side of his head, "Stay out of trouble."

Alec rolled his eyes, "Yes, ma'am!"

* * *

Mole pulled up short and cocked his head to the side. "Don't look, keep walking," he encouraged quietly. Of course he ignored his good advice and took two steps backwards. "What are you doing?"

Alec's head jerked up like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "Nothing."

"You sure about that, Princess? You gotta bit of glitter in your hair," Mole remarked, using his cigar to gesture at Alec's head.

Alec frantically ran his hand through his hair, like someone had just told him that a spider had landed in it and then patted it down. "I uh…"

"You're a masochist, you know that?" Mole glanced around the apartment, taking the door that Alec had forgotten to close as an invitation to look at his newest project. He did not understand the X-series, they were all preoccupied with _Ordinary _concerns. Take Alec for instance: one of Manticore's best, their go-to guy, a Commanding Officer, recently the SIC of their hodge-podge group…and completely head-over-heels for the only girl in Terminal City who wouldn't even acknowledge his existence as a male, even when he had made it blaringly obvious to everyone how he felt. "As much as I ignore the words that are constantly coming from our fearless leader's mouth, I do remember her saying no to having decorations put up; probably because she said it at least a dozen times."

"I'm well aware of that," Alec grumbled, following Mole's gaze. Finally he met the lizard-man's eyes, "You think she'll hate it?" He asked in a moment of open uncertainty.

Mole shook his head, "You think anyone can predict what will set her off? Your guess is…well, better than anyone else's. And if anyone could get away with disobeying an order, it would be you or Joshua."

"Here's hoping," Alec replied grimly.

* * *

The sharp click of heels signaled Max's arrival before the door was pushed open and like the coward he was for the night, Alec made sure he was in the bathroom when she came in.

"That was a complete waste of…"

Alec held his breath as he waited for her normal reaction to one of his plans.

"Alec," she called out and when he didn't move, "Come out of the bathroom."

Alec stuck his head around the door, ready to pull it back in the event of flying objects, "Is it safe?"

"Just get out here," Max barked. Max waited until Alec had slinked out into the living room, "What is all this?"

The tell-tale hand went up to rub his barcode, "It's for uh…Christmas?"

Max took in the multicolored lights that hung haphazardly around the room and the small, crooked Christmas tree decorated with glittery ornaments; there was even a clumsily wrapped present underneath it. "I know it's Christmas, but why? I thought I told you I didn't want any decorations."

While she was on the run from Manticore, Max never really took the time to celebrate Christmas. There hadn't really been anyone to celebrate with. Then she had gotten to Seattle and met Original Cindy, Kendra, Sketchy, and she saw that Christmas meant something to them. Their celebrations were never anything extravagant, but they were something that secretly gave her warm feelings in the pit of her stomach.

She had thought that being in T.C. surrounded by a bunch of Manticore alums, she would be missing out on any celebrations, told Alec not to bother because she didn't want it to be a poor representation of the Christmas she had gotten used to. But she should have known better because here she was, coming back from a miserable dinner, to see their apartment decorated in a poor man's version of Christmas.

Alec shrugged in response, "Well, you did, but I heard O.C. talking to you about it the other day and you seemed kinda jealous that she was planning something, so I thought that maybe I could put something together. I know it probably isn't the same…" Alec trailed off.

Max bit down on her lower lip to stop the spread of a smile as she caught a sparkle of glitter near Alec's temple and settled for moving towards the bedroom. No, it wasn't the same, but different wasn't always bad, right? She couldn't let Alec get away scot free with ignoring her refusals though.

Alec didn't know whether to be disappointed that Max wasn't going to comment on the decorations or relieved that she wasn't going to yell at him.

He should have known that Max would be able to meet all his expectations with her parting comment, "There'd better not be any mistletoe around here!"

* * *

It was his chuckle. That secretive, 'I know something you don't and I'm gonna love watching you figure it out,' chuckle. She never should have made that last comment about mistletoe; then she wouldn't have to be on edge every time she walked around their apartment. It didn't help that she could feel him tracking her movements.

Every nerve ending was on fire, waiting for that unfortunate time when she stumbled underneath some mistletoe and he tried to take advantage of tradition. Not that she would let him…she just didn't want to argue with him. However, as the days crept closer to Christmas and no mistletoe was found, Max began to think that maybe he had just been messing with her the entire time, that there was _no_ mistletoe in the apartment and he had come up with the perfect tactic to drive her insane.

She refused to play his game, "When can I open my present?" It was Christmas Eve and her present had been sitting underneath the tree for days. What could she say, her DNA made her doubly curious.

"Tomorrow morning," Alec told her, turning his attention back to the tv. Things had been hectic around T.C. since Max's meeting with the mayor. Apparently, it had gone better than Max had thought and the mayor was now beginning to back the transgenic cause. It was great for them, but it meant that the mayor was sending over reporters to talk to the leaders of T.C. and time to relax had all but disappeared. In honor of the holidays, not that most Manticore alum knew or cared about the reason, Max had shut down all unnecessary operations and gave everyone time off; which led them to sprawling out on their couch with some old corny Christmas movie playing.

"Why not now?" Max pestered, digging her toes into his side.

He frowned at her, "First off, ow," he grabbed her feet with one hand and placed them on his lap. "That hurt. Second, it's tradition to open presents on Christmas morning."

"You've never celebrated Christmas before now, what does tradition matter to you?" Max questioned.

Alec shrugged lightly, letting his hands gently graze over her feet, "I just wanna do it right."

"I might have gotten you something," Max said slyly, holding back grin as Alec's face morphed into his own excited smile.

"Why didn't you say so?" Alec asked, shoving her feet off of his lap. "It's after midnight, Merry Christmas, where's my present?"

Max chuckled, pulling herself to her feet, "You're so greedy."

"Hey, look in the mirror, Maxie," Alec countered, jumping off the couch himself to grab her present before dropping back down.

Max returned to her spot with her messenger bag in hand, pulling a small package from it. "You go first," she said, holding it out. Max wanted to get her gift to Alec out of the way, she felt that there was too much pressure to have him like it.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Alec swiped the package out of Max's hands and immediately shook it.

"You aren't supposed to shake it!" Max cried out.

"Everyone in the movies does it," Alec reasoned, turning the box over in his hands.

"Just open it," Max sighed out in mock-exasperation.

Alec tore into the paper with child-like glee and quickly slid his finger under the tape holding the box shut. "Wow, Max," her actual name sounding kind of strange coming from him. Alec fingered the new sweater with something akin to awe. Max got him a real present…

…Max got him a new sweater because she had been eyeing his old one with the intent of swiping it. She figured that she could do it easier if he had another one to use.

"Thanks," he said sincerely. "I really like it."

"No prob," Max returned casually. Feeling uncomfortable, Max held her hand out, "My turn."

Instead of relinquishing the present, Alec's grip actually tightened. "I think that maybe we should wait until tomorrow for yours."

"I want it now, you got yours," Max nearly whined. She had been all set to miss Christmas this year, but now that they were exchanging gifts, she wasn't willing to be patient.

"I…" Alec took in the stubborn set of her jaw, "Fine," he relinquished the present into her hand and cringed slightly as she ripped into the paper.

Max threw the torn paper to the side as she stared at her gift, "You've gotta be kidding me."

Alec sent her a sheepish smile, "Merry Christmas?"

"Seriously?" Max asked incredulously, swatting Alec's arm with his 'present'. "You gave me mistletoe!?"

Alec chuckled, his amusement over his gift getting the better of him. "Come on, Maxie, you have to see the humor in it."

"I give you a real gift and you give me mistletoe?!" Max shoved him in indignation. "That's it; I'm gonna go give myself a real Christmas present and take a bath."

Max made to stand up when Alec's warm hand on her wrist halted her. "What!?"

Alec gnawed on his lower lip before taking the dive. His fingertips lightly traced over Max's cheekbones and down to her lips, taking advantage of her momentary surprise. He leaned forward slowly, relishing the way her breath hitched and her heart beat faster with every inch he gained in her personal space.

Max couldn't breathe, couldn't move as Alec got within a hairs breadth of her lips. She should push him away, she should slap him upside the head, call him an idiot, and then maybe kick his ass for being a jerk. She definitely shouldn't be sitting there waiting for him to make his move.

Just as his lips were about to brush over hers, he changed direction and his mouth ended up by her ear. Alec was so close that when he spoke, his lips hit the outer shell of her ear, threatening to send a shiver down her spine. "Who says it was a joke?" he whispered.

He pulled back just far enough to press a soft, almost nonexistent kiss, against her cheek before he returned to his spot of the couch, a carefree smirk plastered on his face.

"Have a good bath," he told her. That carefree persona that he was throwing out? Completely false. He was a mess, this could screw up everything. Maybe he should have just stuck with the joke and not pushed it…

Max literally shook her head to clear the wayward thoughts that had entered her head. "Don't ever do that again," she threatened, her voice coming out a bit shaky.

"What if I did?" Alec pondered, in for a penny, in for a pound after all.

"I…well…god, you're an ass," Max ended, jumping off of the couch and barricading herself in the relative safety of the bathroom.

An hour later when Max emerged from the steam-filled bathroom, she couldn't help but glance into the living room. Alec was exactly where she left him, staring at the wall across from him. Max had a few options; she could ignore him so that he knew she was pissed. It was what he expected her to do. Or, "Merry Christmas, Alec."

Alec's head whipped around so fast it was comical, "I…" Alec considered trying to explain away the whole gift thing, but he could recognize her goodnight for what it was, not a refusal to admit it had happened, just a postponing of the conversation. A temporary ceasefire of sorts, she wouldn't yell at him for completely plowing through all of the carefully constructed boundaries they had put up and he wouldn't mention the fact that she hadn't pulled away. A win-win until they were both ready to address it.

"Merry Christmas, Maxie," he returned softly with a small smile.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews! I want you to know that my continuing the story has everything to do with the reviews I received. I'm glad that you guys encouraged me to continue this little story and I am pleased with how it ended up. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"It's the middle of the afternoon, what the hell are you doing?" Max nudged Alec's shoulder as she walked by the couch on her way to grab the notebook she had left in her room that morning.

Alec inched away from her hand and reburied his head in his crossed arms. "Nappin'," he mumbled.

"What are you? Two?" Max teased as she re-entered the room and paused by the couch. As she looked down at Alec, her hand itched to reach out and ruffle his hair. There was something about the way his hair was sticking up at odd angles that made her want to run her hands through it. And that was NOT okay.

"Nooo," Alec drawled out lazily, stretching his long body out as far as it could go, arching his back at the furthest point before giving a small shudder and turning his head towards Max. "Just doing what my genetics tell me."

"I highly doubt that Manticore wanted their super soldiers to take naps while on missions," Max pointed out, her eyebrow raised in disbelief.

Alec slipped into an easy, if not slightly condescending, smile, "Manticore didn't mean for a lot of things to happen, Maxie. But, when you start throwing animal DNA into people, you get some weird results."

He gestured to himself, "Such as humans that _really _like naps. And I'm sure you've noticed how much better we sleep when there is someone next to us. It's just a cat thing."

"Well," Max had to fight to put an annoyed expression on, "just make sure you get back to Command as soon as possible."

"Hmm mmm," Alec replied as he shifted to get back into prime napping position.

As Max quietly shut the door behind her, she couldn't help but be a little envious of the way Alec just accepted the things that Manticore did to them. She hadn't noticed that her sleep was better when she was next to someone because she refused to admit that the animal DNA had any power over her. Well, she had to admit that it played some part because she didn't have to sleep nearly as much as a normal human did, but that side effect wasn't horrible. The fact that Alec knew he wanted to nap because they had tossed a bit of cat DNA into his genes and was okay with it? Yeah, she just couldn't be like that.

* * *

Their front door banged shut as Max stomped into the apartment three weeks later, "Okay, nap time is over! You missed a meeting!"

Max stopped next to Alec's head and flicked his exposed ear, "Alec, wake up!"

Alec blearily lifted his head and blinked slowly, "Huh?"

"Get up!" Max demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's one thing to nap; it's another to blow off your responsibilities!"

"Maxie, I'm tired," Alec whined, trying to avoid Max's hand that was attempting to flick him again.

"You don't just get to sleep whenever you want," Max explained.

"I don't!" Alec defended. "In the past three weeks, how many nights have been spent in Command? How many times have we been getting back from raids as the sun came up? I'm not you Max, I need sleep!"

Max blinked as Alec's voice got borderline hysterical and she finally took in the dark rings under his eyes and the fact that they were blood-shot and watery. His clothes were wrinkled and he was sporting some slight stubble on his face. He looked like he hadn't slept in forever.

"I…" Max stopped as Alec's shoulders tightened, obviously expecting her to blow off his explanation and yell at him to get his ass going.

Alec shoved himself into a sitting position and nodded, "I'm going."

"Wait!" She blurted out, holding her hand out to stop his movements. She quickly turned and sat down in the available space.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Alec asked wearily, too tired to try and guess what Max was getting at.

"Lay down, idiot," Max bit out, already uncomfortable without having to explain herself.

Alec's brow furrowed in obvious confusion, "But, I…you…where?"

Max's hand snapped out and instead of slapping him on the shoulder like he expected, it closed around it and pulled him towards her. "I swear, sometimes I think you're purposefully dense," she ground out as his head hit her lap.

"Max?" Alec questioned, not allowing himself to relax an inch.

"Just…" Max fidgeted underneath him, "go to sleep."

"But," he tried to ask, but she ignored him and clicked the tv on, the volume down so low that even he had to strain to hear it.

"Shut up, Alec," Max ordered, refusing to meet his questioning gaze. "We have to be back in Command in five hours. You can either sleep or we can go back to Command and work on creating the new guard rotation."

"Right, sleeping," Alec snapped his mouth shut. But, how often was it that Max pulled him into her lap and told him to take a nap? Sure bet was, never in a million years. "Max, why are you doinmph..."

Max clamped her hand over Alec's mouth, " .sleep." she enunciated. "You said we sleep better when we are around people; consider this your power nap." When Alec didn't try to talk again, Max removed her hand, but noticed that Alec wasn't relaxing.

It wasn't for lack of trying, he had tried to relax muscle by muscle from his toes, but around his knees he had to start all over again. He tried to make his mind blank, but then his thoughts would drift to guard rotations, food rations, or the fact that his head was currently laying on Max's legs. It was the age old curse that you could sleep like a log, unless you had to, then it was impossible to get your brain to shut off. Finally, he broke, "Maxie, I can't."

Max shook her head at his tone, he would deny it till his death, but it sounded like he was about to break, "You always have to make things difficult, don't you?"

"I'm sorry," he snapped, "it isn't like I _want_ to be awake right now. I just…I just…"

Alec trailed off as Max unexpectedly ran her fingers through his shaggy hair, his eyes snapping shut of their own accord. "I…"

"One more word and I'll stop," Max threatened, digging her fingers in deeper and letting them massage his scalp.

Alec nodded his understanding, letting out a heavy breath as Max hit a spot behind his ear. "Mmm," Alec nearly purred as Max ran over the spot again, causing Max's lips to quirk up in amusement.

Even after Alec had succumbed to sleep, Max continued to lazily run her hands through his hair. It was something she had wanted to do for weeks now and she was going to take full advantage of the opportunity….she meant, it was only to help Alec catch some sleep….

About an hour into it, Alec had shifted his body around so that he was facing Max and her hands had moved from his hair to his slightly furrowed brow, determined to smooth any lines off of it. Then they traced down his nose, across his high cheekbones, up to the curve of his ear, down along his jaw, coasted to the back of his neck where she knew his barcode to be

She let her own heavy breath out…he really was gorgeous.

Not that he needed anyone to tell him that.

Around the third hour, Max had shifted slightly, sliding down a bit so she was lying against the back of the couch. Alec's body immediately adjusted to her new position by flopping over onto his stomach, curling an arm around her waist, and snuggling his head into her stomach.

"Even in your sleep," Max grumbled, but didn't attempt to move him. To be honest, she was getting a bit tired herself. Alec was right earlier, they had been putting in a lot of hours over the past couple of weeks; so many that even with shark DNA it was difficult to stay focused. Maybe it was the hours, maybe it was having sat there in one spot for hours, or maybe it was idea that Alec had planted in her head about sleeping better next to someone, but around hour four, Max let herself drift off.

* * *

Where were those drums coming from? There weren't drums in his dream. In fact, he was having the most wonderful dream where he had fallen asleep on Max. But, he couldn't deny that there was a continuous banging going on. Peeling one eye open, he looked up, only to meet Max's gaze as her eyes popped open.

Okay, that last part was not a dream; he did fall asleep on Max. He would have to figure that one out once he figured out why the dream drums were still banging away.

"Door," Max explained, coming out of her sleep faster than Alec.

Alec nodded, but made no move to get up.

"Alec, I have to answer the door," Max insisted, gently trying to unwrap his arms from around her waist.

Alec's head shook in disagreement, tightening his arms in response.

"Don't be difficult," Max admonished, but still made no move to shove him off of her. It was oddly difficult to be mean to him when he was acting like this. "I have to get the door."

"No," Alec mumbled, not wanting her to get up and ruin whatever had sparked the moment.

The knocker didn't seem to have the same wants as Alec because he continued to knock every few seconds. Finally, he appeared to grow tired of knocking and called out instead, "Max, are you okay? You missed the meeting!"

Max felt Alec's muscles instantly tighten up again as he recognized Logan's voice. She couldn't really blame him; she felt her own jump as well. She hadn't been avoiding Logan since she had moved in with Alec; she just tried to not be in the same room with him alone. Okay, maybe she was avoiding him. But, what else was she supposed to do? Logan had told her to make a choice and she had moved in with Alec. How was she supposed to act around him after that? Especially with the initial rumors that had flown around TC after she first moved in.

"He's not gonna stop until I open the door," Max rationalized to the unmoving Alec.

Alec withheld his sigh, knowing that Max was right, but even more unwilling to move now that he knew who he was moving for.

"Max?" Logan called out again.

Max raised her eyebrow at Alec when he peered up at her. He rolled his eyes as he released his hold on her, letting his hands drift across her sides as he pulled them away and rolled his body to the side so she could stand up.

Once she had the ability to stand, Max quickly convinced herself that she actually wanted to go answer the door and hauled herself off of the couch. Stretching out a kink in her back as she opened the door, she offhandedly thought that the couch was not very comfortable at all.

Logan was just about to knock again when the door swung open to reveal Max mid-stretch, her shirt riding up on her stomach. "Max!" he blurted out in surprise. He was starting to worry about her. She and Alec hadn't shown up for the weekly meeting about transgenic approval among the general population. While Alec's absence hadn't raised any red flags, he often missed one or two meetings a week because of something, Max never missed one. Then, no one knew where she was until Gem mentioned that Max was searching for her wayward SIC quite a while ago. He immediately headed for their apartment, determined to make sure she was okay.

"Logan," Max responded, "What are you doing here?"

Logan looked confused for a second, "You missed the meeting tonight, no one has seen you for hours, I…we were worried."

Max looked around, blaming the impromptu nap for her missing it earlier; their apartment was plunged into darkness, the only light was from the tv and the street lamp that Alec had threatened to destroy almost every night.

"I guess I lost track of time," she replied, turning back to him.

"Lost track of time? What were you doing?" Logan asked before he could stop himself. It was none of his business and frankly if no one had seen Max or Alec in hours, he probably didn't want to know.

"Sleeping with me," Alec called out from his spot on the couch.

Logan visibly flinched and Max threw a glare at the couch, knowing that Alec was just baiting Logan as per usual.

"We fell asleep," Max explained, for some reason feeling the need to get rid of the horrified expression on Logan's face. Even if she didn't want to be with Logan, she didn't want to hurt him. Then, partly in retaliation for the baiting, she reached over and flipped the light on.

"Ow, Maxie," Alec complained as his eyes were assaulted by the light.

"Sorry I missed the meeting," Max went back to explaining to Logan, "it just felt like I hadn't gotten a break lately."

"It's fine," Logan quickly assured, "there wasn't much to report on anyways. I left a copy of my notes in your office."

"Thanks," Max said gratefully.

Then the awkward silence fell. Beyond work, there wasn't a whole lot for them to talk about.

"So," Logan began, falling silent quickly.

"Yeah," Max countered, shifting her weight around.

It continued on for another few seconds before, "I'm hungry."

Logan shook his head slightly at in Alec's direction, even though the other man was still hidden by the couch. "I guess I should let you two get back to it."

Max nodded, frankly relieved that Alec gave them an excuse to end the awkward standoff. "Thanks again for the notes; we'll see ya in a couple of days."

"Bye, Max," Logan said with a small smile. He glanced up as Alec finally unfolded himself from the couch. "Alec," he nodded in greeting and goodbye.

"Logan," Alec responded in kind with a nod of his own.

Max rolled her eyes, apparently it didn't matter whether or not your DNA was fully human, boys would be boys. "See ya," she ended with a small wave, closing the door behind Logan's retreating back.

"What?" Alec asked, his expression innocent as Max pinned him with a stare. "What'd I do?"

Max moved into the kitchen, now that Alec had mentioned it, she was rather hungry as well. "Do you two always have to goad one another?"

"Yes," Alec replied seriously as he followed her, "It's how we work. It's how guys work."

"What, some sort of male dominance thing?" Max asked skeptically.

Alec shrugged, grabbing the milk out of the fridge as Max went for the cereal. "Yeah."

Max shook her head, "You don't do it with Sketchy. You two get along great."

"Sketchy's different," Alec told her, reaching over her head to grab the cereal down without comment.

Max thought about saying that she could have gotten it down before shrugging it off and getting the bowls instead. "How is Sketchy different? He's a guy, isn't he?"

"It's debatable at times," Alec quipped, setting his load on the counter. He caught Max's eyes and while he saw the amused twinkle, he knew she wanted an answer. "Sketchy's not…" he turned and busied himself with pouring cereal into the bowls Max had just set out.

"Sketchy's not…" Max prompted, it was like pulling teeth with him tonight.

"Competition," Alec answered quickly, studiously avoiding Max's stare.

"Competition?" Max asked in confusion. "Competition for what?"

Alec couldn't stop himself from pinning Max with an incredulous stare until he could see the realization flash across her face.

"Oh," she said simply. "Well, um…"

"Can we go eat?" Alec interrupted her, not quite prepared to hear her response, whatever she was going to come up with. "I wasn't lying when I said I was starving."

Max nodded, glad that he gave her an out for the moment. They were both masters at avoiding necessary conversations. They still hadn't talked about the mistletoe incident yet and with every passing day it was becoming clear that they were going to have to sit down and actually hash things out. However, so long as they both worried about what that talk would do to whatever it was they currently were doing, neither was willing to force the matter.

* * *

A raid gone bad? Wasn't that how it all started?

The Ordinary's feelings towards the populous of Terminal City had been improving ten-fold over the past few weeks, not in small part due to Alec working his magic on the mayor and his buddies. Through meetings and dinners, Alec had ingratiated himself with them, turned on the charm, had them laughing and tripping over one another trying to invite him to their next party. However, that did not translate into supplies yet. So, a raid it was.

This time, Alec had volunteered to lead a team, the urge to get out of TC and stretch his legs too compelling to ignore. At first, Max had argued that he shouldn't go, TC needed its commanders. But really, her argument stemmed from being jealous that he was going to get to go and she was stuck in her self-enforced prison. In the end, she capitulated and Alec was in charge of a small group of X-series.

The raid was for medical supplies; Dix had come across some plans for an old hospital out in Sector 9 and with a bit of research, determined that it was most likely abandoned after the Pulse and some salvageable things may be left inside.

Simple, right?

Real question, when was anything simple for them?

The old hospital was _really_ old before the Pulse hit and time hadn't been kind to it. The dilapidated building looked like it was being held together by toothpicks. Toothpicks that had crumbled down around the group when a scuffle had broken out between two X5s over a new girl in TC.

She had been meeting with the Mayor to discuss getting actual supplies shipped into TC when the team had arrived back to base, so when she returned and found out that Alec had been hurt, she had taken off towards med bay to see how bad it was.

"What do you mean he left!?" She shouted at Doc who didn't seem fazed by her anger.

"He left, got up, walked out, left," Doc surmised. "His injuries were not as severe as some of the others and I have no extra beds. He could sit in here, or he could go home, he chose to go home. I wasn't going to stop him."

Max nearly stomped her foot, "Well, you should have made him wait for me!"

She spun on her heel and rushed out the door, determined to make sure he was actually okay. By the time she reached their apartment, she had worked herself into a panic. What if he was worse off than Doc thought? What if he didn't head for the apartment? What if…

Max flung the door open and scanned the apartment for him, "Alec?" She called out, not seeing him.

It didn't take her long to hear him though and she followed the sounds of retching to the bathroom. "Alec?" She tried again, turning the handle, surprised to find it unlocked.

The first thing she noticed was Alec's form hunched over the toilet, the second was the bloodstained shirt he was wearing, the third was the fact that the blood was coming from a wound above his eye.

"What the hell?" She asked no one in particular as she moved into the bathroom. She didn't have a lot of experience taking care of people while they were being sick, but OC used to put a damp cloth on the back of her neck, so she grabbed up a blue wash cloth and ran cold water on it.

"Thanks," Alec slurred out, his head hanging over the toilet. Max kept her hands on his shoulders as he swayed a little, blood dripping down to splash macabrely on the white porcelain.

"No problem," Max told him, trying to figure out what to do with him.

Alec tried to blink slowly before giving up and keeping his eyes closed, the room was moving too much, "I think I…concussion."

"Ya think?" Max questioned, blindly reaching around till she found another rag she could dab at his forehead with.

"M'tired," he informed her as he tried to move his head away from her care. Although the movement turned his stomach again and he was back to hugging the toilet.

When he was finally done, Max slowly pulled him away from the toilet and helped him stand, "Let's get you in bed."

Once they had manuveured their way out of the bathroom, Alec tried to take a step to the right when he was stopped by Max's arm around his waist.

"Come on, Concussion Boy, this way," Max directed.

Max had lowered him down onto her bed before he found his voice, "But, this's your…"

"Let's get you out of that shirt, it's disgusting," Max cut him off.

"Knew you wanna see me shirt…without…" Alec paused and frowned, that wasn't right. "You wanna shirt me...without a shirt you see me."

"Stop thinking so hard," Max warned teasingly, as she gently pulled his shirt over his head, ignoring the way her lower stomach tightened as each inch of him was revealed. "You're gonna hurt yourself."

Alec pouted as his head popped out of the shirt, "Be nice."

"I am being nice," Max argued, gently pushing on his shoulder and forcing him to lay down. She stood up to go and get the first aid kit out of the bathroom, "Don't go passing out now."

"Yes, ma'am," Alec said reflexively.

When Max returned, she was kind of surprised to find Alec still awake, if not looking incredibly confused. "I'll get you patched up and then you can sleep for a while."

Patching him up was fairly easy. Doc had stitched up his cut, but a couple of them had ripped while he was getting sick. A couple of butterfly bandages, some gauze and he was good for a moment. The next twelve hours had been fairly simple as well; Alec would sleep for a while, Max would wake him up, repeat. Mole and Joshua had stopped by to check on him and she had reassured them that he would be fine once he decided to stop playing Sleeping Beauty, a reference that was lost on both of them.

Finally around noon the next day, Alec woke up on his own and seemed to recognize her immediately.

"About time you joined the land of the aware," Max joked.

"I feel like Mole after he looks in a mirror," Alec grumbled, trying to ignore the blinding headache he was sporting.

"I can imagine," Max agreed. "Apparently that's what you get for running into falling buildings."

Alec had to think a moment before he remembered what had happened; Aero and Jolt fighting, them hitting a support pillar that was apparently very much needed, the building starting to fall down, getting out only to realize that Dalton was still in there, diving back in and finding him, shoving Dalton out of the way when a beam fell… "Well, all the cool transgenics were doing it."

"Maybe next time you could be okay with being lame for once? Or at least be more careful?" Max tried to keep her worry for him out of her voice, but apparently she failed when Alec opened his eyes and caught her gaze.

"I'll be more careful," he promised. He wasn't going to promise to not do stupid things in order to keep his team safe, they would both know it was a lie.

"Good," Max breathed out, it had been a long night with the silence and she had plenty of time to think about all the 'what ifs' that ended with Alec not coming back at all. "Because you told me a while back that it would take a lot for me to get rid of you."

"I meant it," he confirmed, thinking back to that conversation. Which lead him to an important realization, "I'm in my bed."

"What?" Max tried to follow his line of thought.

"I'm in my bed," He repeated. "That day, when I left TC and you were worried about me, I promised that you couldn't get rid of me that easily and then I said that I still planned on getting my bed back. Well, I have my bed back!"

"Uh, no, this is still my bed," Max informed him.

"What is it that they say about possession?" Alec asked her slyly.

"You're not taking my bed from me!" Max shouted, but she immediately lowered her volume when she saw him wince. "The moment you're better, you're back on the couch."

"We'll see," Alec drawled, settling his head back against the pillows. It was nice to be lying on a mattress again and not a ratty old couch. The glare that Max was shooting him was just icing on the cake.

* * *

"If you put your feet on me one more ti…MAX!"

"They're cold," Max explained as she curled her feet around Alec's warm legs.

"I know they're cold! You keep sticking them on me!" Alec shouted as she shifted them to the next warm spot, having sucked all of the heat out like little heat sucking vampire feet.

"This is your fault you know," Max explained sagely. "Before you invited yourself into my bed, I never realized they were that cold. You brought this on yourself."

Alec scoffed as he fought to keep his legs away from her questing feet, "I think you are currently participating in some revisionist history, Maxie. Last time I checked, this was originally _my _bed, that you _stole_, and _you _were the one who invited me back into it."

"You were hurt," Max argued, "It wasn't a standing invitation."

"Well, you should have clarified," Alec countered.

"I did! You just have selective hearing," Max said, letting her feet lie still.

Alec took a breath, assuming that she had given up her nightly goal of torturing him. "I maintain that you never told me to leave."

Max shook her head as Alec turned his body towards her and smiled. She returned the smile and before he could react to the glint she got in her eyes, her feet were underneath his shirt and pressed against his stomach.

"Maxie!" He curled inward to escape as his hands clamped down on her feet and tried to trap them with his shirt.

"You sure you don't want to go back to the couch?" She asked teasingly as she wiggled her feet out of his grasp and placed them on his chest this time.

Alec gripped her legs at the knees and pulled downwards, smirking as her feet came free. He immediately acted on his current advantage by pulling her closer to him and rolling so that she was tightly caged in his arms. He didn't say anything, but his eyes flickered down to her lips as he slowly moved forward.

It wasn't an attack on her mouth, there was no frantic scrambling to see who was going to come out on top, it was slow and lazy, like her mouth was the sole property of Alec's to plunder as he like. When he pulled away, and moved towards her ear, Max didn't need to see his face to know that there was a knowing smirk plastered on it.

Like he did with the mistletoe all those months ago, Alec let his lips graze over the curve of Max's ear, "Tell me to go and I will."

This time, Max didn't bother to hold back the shiver caused by Alec's lips, "I guess I can let you stay one more night…"

Alec's head popped up and he grinned, "Perfect! You know, one day you're just gonna have to admit that you like having me in here."

Max shook her head as Alec rolled onto his back, but wrapped his arm around her and tugged her into him. Laying her head on his chest, Max denied his statement, "Never gonna happen, Pretty Boy."

"Seeing as you said the same thing about me getting back into this bed in the first place, I don't think I'm going to believe you this time," Alec teased, running his hand down the arm Max had placed on his chest until he got to her hand.

Max watched as Alec's hand moved to cover her smaller one, their thumbs lightly moving against each other. It was true, she had never planned on sharing a bed with Alec, never planned on the butterflies that erupted in her stomach every time she saw him, the way her heart skipped a beat when his hand would touch hers when he handed her something in a meeting. It was all very girly and _normal_. Two things that she never thought she would have or even wanted. But, somewhere along the way, he had pushed his way into her life and there was no getting rid of him now.

But, since she was still Max and he was still Alec, "Dream on, tomorrow night your ass is sleeping on the couch."

"Whatever you say, Maxie," Alec responded as his arms tightened around her and he felt her press a light kiss on his chest.

* * *

**This is the actual end! I've had fun writing this, and I hope you guys like how Alec ended up getting back into his bed. Please let me know what you think so if I decide to write more for Dark Angel, I know what works and what doesn't. If you guys have any suggestions or requests for stories, feel free to shoot them my way. Thanks!**


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